Contested Rochester solar farm moves ahead with planning process

ROCHESTER — Plans for a solar farm on a Marion Road property are moving full speed ahead, Rochester Town Planner, Steven Starret, stated March 12.

Starret informed the Planning Board that he expected plans for the property, owned by Craig Canning, to be ready for Planning Board review in the next few weeks.

The current plan, he added, is a 5-kilowatt array, "the largest in Rochester."

The plans as he has seen them, he explained, indicate that the solar array will begin at the 300 feet setback line, and continue all the way through the back of the 60-acre property, excepting several acres of wetlands included in the parcel.

The property was previously a hotpoint of contention between Canning and neighbors. Canning had intended to set up a farmer's market at the site. Neighbors contested the plans, stating that what Canning had proposed wasn't actually agricultural at all, but an industrial facility in disguise.

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